Ben Maller's NASCAR rumors and notes
by FOXSports.com
Chase format looks good to Labonte
Jimmie Johnson's late season success took most of the drama out of the 10-race Chase for the Championship as he captured his third consecutive title and will be crowned the 2008 champion Friday night in New York City. "It's simple," Labonte said. "If you score the most points in the first 26 races you are going to be included in the Chase. A computer can't vote you out, a human can't vote you out and you can't argue against performance and points earned on the track. We all know the rules when we begin the season at Daytona and know them when it ends in Homestead.' "The champion is crowned over the final 10 races. What makes the Chase great is that there is a level of excitement. It's really, really hard to make it a complete runaway over the final 10 races. This year Johnson did his best to make it a blowout, but you still had to tune in at Homestead to make sure (Carl) Edwards didn't catch him. Racing is so unpredictable that you just never know what's going to happen. It was still a possibility that something could have gone wrong for Johnson and you had to watch it." -- Rocky Mountain News
Ragan: need to work on road courses
David Ragan's first win may have eluded him in 2008, but the future looks bright that his first victory will come in 2009. Veteran crew chief Jimmy Fennig will remain with Ragan and so will his team who consistently proved to be an asset in aiding Ragan on and off pit road. In addition UPS will be Ragan's primary sponsor starting in 2009. "Our goal for 2008 was to make the Chase," said Ragan. "Unfortunately we didn't achieve that, but we came very close and ran consistently so in my eyes it was still a successful season. We finished 13th which is the next best thing to making the Chase. It's been great having AAA as a sponsor, but I'm excited for next year with UPS. I've got all my same team moving into 2009 and we should be good right from the start. I need to do my part and work on road courses, but besides that we'll keep our goal of making the Chase and winning races." -- Roush Fenway Racing
NASCAR trying to create artificially close racing?
NASCAR is trying to do something never before done in all of professional and amateur motorsports; they are trying to create artificially close racing, through mandates and legislation via' the sanctioning body rules…..and don't even get me started on the 'make it up as we go along' rulebook that the France cartel dragon guards like a treasure horde, never letting anyone really see what's inside… -- Insider Racing News
Daytona 500 in 3-D?
Fox Sports Chairman David Hill says Fox hopes to let theatergoers use 3-D glasses to watch February's NASCAR Daytona 500. -- USA Today
NASCAR: Kansas Speedway could get second Cup date by 2010
NASCAR Chairman Brian France indicated Tuesday that it is more likely that Kansas Speedway could get its second date on the 2010 schedule than for Kentucky Speedway to have its request approved for an inaugural race there. International Speedway Corp. is planning to ask NASCAR to move one of its Sprint Cup dates to Kansas Speedway, while Speedway Motorsports Inc. is planning to seek to move a date to Kentucky Speedway. -- Scene Daily
Brian France doesn't envision a 30-year term as head of NASCAR
NASCAR Chairman Brian France won't put a timetable on it, but he indicated Tuesday that he doesn't expect this to be the job he will retire from. France has held his post as chairman and chief executive officer since 2003 as the third leader of the sanctioning body after the long tenures of his grandfather and father since the organization was conceived in 1947. "I have said I will not have a 30-year run like my father for a variety of reasons," the 46-year-old France said Tuesday during the Street & Smith's Motorsports Marketing Forum when asked about how long he'll guide the sport. "We have so many talented people in this sport, [which] I think wears you out. I don't think you're effective for 30 years. "I know that. How long [do I stay]? As long as I'm having and we're doing a good job." -- Scene Daily
One-third of NASCAR drivers on stage in NYC didn't win race
Jimmie Johnson won his third title and NASCAR will be making the most of that moment, as I suppose they should. But the scene seems a bit incomplete without Dale Earnhardt Jr., although Jeff Gordon is there without any victories. In fact, Kevin Harvick, Clint Bowyer, Matt Kenseth and Gordon are the only four drivers with no wins and still on the big stage. Although I am not sure about Kenseth's seating placement that evening - these things change a lot inside NASCAR and I really don't care where he is sitting. But if he is on stage, that makes for over one-third of the drivers on stage without a trip to the winner's circle. That is a bit disappointing. -- Insider Racing News
Jacques Villeneuve Signs To Compete In Speedcar Series
The 37-year-old French-Canadian, Jacques Villeneuve who contested the last of his 165 grands prix in 2006 with BMW Sauber, will drive for the Italian-based GP2 team Durango. The GP2 stalward has hired the former F1 World Champion to be one of its two drivers as it embarks on its inaugural season in the Dubai-based stock car series. "2009 for Durango will be the 25th anniversary," said team manager Ivone Pinton. "It is an important achievement which we will start to celebrate having, for the first time, a Formula 1 world champion as official driver." Villeneuve, who is attempting to break into the NASCAR Sprint Cup series full time, set the fastest lap during a recent test session last week at the Dubai Autodrome, edging out his eventual teammate by just 2-10ths of a second. -- Auto Racing Daily
Jimmie Johnson working Big Apple
That three-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Champion Jimmie Johnson will celebrate his victory at Marquee tomorrow night. -- NY Post
NASCAR too worried about TV viewers
NASCAR has become way too big. As in other corporate circles, large machinations of business are slow to accept change. However, this isn't a mere change in product, or a new law that needs to be worked around. This is quite literally the end of the sport as we know it that NASCAR is facing. Viewers are the most valuable customer with the product that NASCAR sells, which is racing entertainment (if you could call it that). However, the customers are leaving the building for other products, and nothing is being done to change the product to lure them back. In fact, changes have been made to drive even more customers away from the NASCAR brand, such as the COSHAT (Car Of Some Hideous Alternate Tomorrow), and pulling race dates away from popular tracks, and forcing existing customers to watch races that appeal to network executives, but alienate the existing customer base. -- Insider Racing News
Three-Peat NASCAR Champion Jimmie Johnson Faces Busy Week Celebrating
Jimmie Johnson participated in photo shoots at New York landmarks and attended Motor Racing Network's NASCAR Live. On Wednesday he'll start the day by ringing the New York Stock Exchange's Opening Bell, attend the Tissot Countdown Clock event at Hard Rock Café, a March of Dimes luncheon, a media luncheon at Foley's and the Sprint Media Celebration at the Sports Museum of America. He'll attend a media luncheon at Cipriani on Thursday with the 12 drivers in the 2008 Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup, along with Rookie of the Year Regan Smith. Later in the day will come the Times Square photo shoot outside the Hard Rock Café and the Stewies Awards, orchestrated by Tony Stewart at Sirius/XM Satellite Radio studios. -- AHN
Ben Maller can be heard weeknights on "The Third Shift on Fox" via the vast Fox Sports Radio Network. The show is broadcast live Monday-Friday from 2am till 6am (est). Check your local radio listenings for the FSR affiliate in your town, listen to XM Satellite Radio Channel No. 142 or via live streaming audio online at FoxSports.com/Radio. Say hi to Ben at myspace.com/benmaller. Interact with Ben's fans and talk sports on Ben Maller's forum Questions, comments and news tips can be sent to Ben via e mail at BigBen@Foxsports.com or Ben@BenMaller.com.
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